Los Angeles Kings Are On The Road To Glory – Capture Late 3-2 Win Over the New York Islanders
Thursday night the Los Angeles Kings snuck in a late goal to take the lead and capture a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders.
The Kings are now 3-for-3 in victories on their current five-game road trip.
L.A. came out jumping again in the first period. The Kings outshoot the Islanders 14-5, but were unsuccessful scoring. The Kings had numerous chances including when Jake Muzzin hit the goal-post on a 3-on-2 rush.
In the second period, Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick held the team in the game. The Kings were outshoot 16-8 in the second.
“Someone should have informed Jonathan Quick that this was a hockey game and not a gymnastics event.”
Despite being outshot in the second, the Kings were able to break through and keep the game tied.
Islander forward Frans Nielsen opened the scoring picking up his 13th of the season from Nikolay Kuleman and Travis Hamonic.
After mis-communication, and a mis-handling of the puck behind the net Quick made a huge save with his glove hand, while in the split position, to keep the game at 1-0.
As a 5-3 expired Islander defensemen Nick Leddy was let out of the box and took a pass from teammate Cal Clutterbuck that put him on a breakaway. Good thing Quick was back there to make that save too.
Then, with 9:23 left in the second it happened.
Kings rookie forward Nick Shore scored his first career NHL goal. Kings captain Dustin Brown brought the puck into the Islanders zone, carried the puck around behind the net, came out to the face-off circle and fired a shot. Nick Shore redirected the puck with his skate as he cut to the front of the goal.
Good-on ya rookie!
Someone should have informed Jonathan Quick that this was a hockey game and not a gymnastics event. Late in the second with the Islanders on the power-play, Quick made another split-save robbing New York superstar John Tavares one-time shot from Nielsen.
Los Angeles Kings
Early in the third period with Matt Greene in the penalty box for hooking Anders Lee the Kings jumped on an open opportunity. On a quick breakout Tyler Toffoli hit Jeff Carter with the puck at center ice. That put Carter and Toffoli on a 2-on-1 with a lot of space. Carter took the puck wide, fired a shot to the far side of the net and got the result he wanted. A rebound off of Islander goalie Jaroslav Halak’s leg went right to Toffoli’s stick. Toffoli buried the rebound, giving L.A. the lead.
1:36 later with the same power-play winding down Islander defensemen Johnny Boychuk was able to break through with a shot from the point. Boychuk wired a one-time slapshot through traffic, picking up his 8th of the season.
With 4:23 left in the game and things getting tense, L.A. defensemen Andrej Sekera took a slapshot that was redirected into the net by Anze Kopitar from the high slot.
It was a great heads-up, team goal. Everyone on the ice made the play happen – Justin Williams, Alec Martinez, Marian Gaborik.
The Islanders pulled Halak late for the extra-man advantage but the Kings were able to hold on for their third straight victory. The game ended the same way the last two have: with Drew Doughty immediately going over to and hugging Quick.
The final shot count was in favor of the Kings 37-27. L.A. went 0-for-2 on the power-play, and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill, including one shorthanded goal.
Marian Gaborik had a great game for the Kings. Gaborik didn’t collect any points, but he continues to drive scoring chances and open up space for the Kings leading point-scorer Anze Kopitar. In his last five games Gaborik has 2 goals and 4 points.
Tyler Toffoli picked up his 22nd goal – an NHL leading 5th short-handed goal. It was Toffoli’s 2nd goal in three games. Toffoli has been streaking throughout the season, going on scoring boost then running dry for stints. Either way he has the distinction of a 20-goal scorer, which is no easy feat this season.
The win keeps the Kings in the playoff hunt, as there is now little room for error.
L.A. has moved up into 3rd place in the Pacific Division with 88 points. The Calgary Flames have played the same number of games (74) and have 87 points. The Kings are currently ranked 8th in the Western Conference.
The Kings next game is Saturday in Minnesota against the Wild. Puck-drop is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. PST.
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Mar 26, 2015; Uniondale, NY, USA; Los Angeles Kings center Nick Shore (37) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the New York Islanders during the second period at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports